Patricia Prime
how the old shed falls
in the frost-stained paddock
its pick-up sticks
every which way and white
fissures through its body
the light is ghostly
filled with mist
the lancewood
saws the air with stiff leaf swords
poised at each tip a bead of water
delphiniums
bundled in my arms
torch-blue flames
as my fingers twitch to play
with their arpeggio of colour
my talisman includes
a clay soldier from China,
finger-polished rosary beads,
the wooden Buddha from Tibet,
a medal blessed by the Pope
I’m struggling to recall
that first winter of marriage
down the steep lane
trees outside our bedroom window
covered with snow
whatever
you think love is
love is
never quite
like that
it’s autumn here
where the lowering sun
swamps the blue
and the wind you feel
is the wind I share
let me be permitted
to plunge into glorious failure
with the speed of light
yet with the gentle slowness
of a falling cherry petal
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Patricia is co-editor of Kokako, reviews editor of Takahe and Stylus, and is assistant editor of Haibun Today. She has interviewed various poets and editors and currently has poems appearing in the World Poetry Anthology 2010 (Mongolia).
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